Spec for Edgy: Community Communication

[Derek Broughton]

Lee Revell wrote:

> On Fri, 2006-06-02 at 20:20 +0200, Vincent Trouilliez wrote:
>> On Fri, 2006-06-02 at 14:04 -0400, Lee Revell wrote:
>> > 
>> > This can work for mailing lists too with aggressive spam filtering. 
>> > The linux-kernel list is open to non-subscribers, gets more traffic
>> > than all the Ubuntu lists combined and gets very little spam.
>> 
>> 
>> Just out of curiosity (since I don't know how it would work) : assuming
>> I post something to such a mailing list, will I get flooded with 500
>> mails as soon as my question hits the list (and then how do I stop the
>> flow... since I am not subscribe, I can't UNsubscribe ! :-O ), or is the
>> list server clever enough to only send me mails from the thread I
>> created ?
> 
> It's not handled by the list server - everyone uses "Reply to All" for
> all responses, so if you're not subscribed you only get the replies to
> your thread.

If it's "not handled by the list server", this must be a local list
etiquette issue.  Generally, if I get email via a list, I only ever respond
to the list - and many people get really annoyed if you respond off-list. 
I'm seeing a number of people post in the top of every message something
like "please do not respond to me off-list...".  Conversely, I (and many)
don't see much reason to respond to people who post "please CC me as I'm
not subscribed" as it implies that the poster only sees us as being useful
for answering _their_ questions, and they have no intention of contributing
anything.
-- 
derek